Home run: Young amputees catch their confidence with Wounded Warriors

CHICO &GT;&GT; Just like many 10-year-old boy Jordan Halterbeck loves to play with Legos, catch and pass footballs and more than anything, he loves baseball and desires to make it to the major leagues like Buster Posey, but Jordan is different from any other child at Blue Oak School because he has an amputated leg.

"I don't really notice it when I play sports because I've had it for so long it feels natural," Jordan said. "I feel that I can do stuff that other kids can do and sometimes I can do it better." Jordan was born with a congenital foot abnormality and when he was 10 months old he received what is called a Boyd amputation and wears a prosthetic leg on his right leg.

Heather Halterbeck-Werner, Jordan's mother, said at 10 months old, he walked within a week of the amputation and ran within two weeks showing that his amputation would not slow him down.

"I have always told Jordan he can do what everybody else can do, and I really have not allowed his leg to be a crutch for him," Halterbeck-Werner said. "When he was younger I went out of my way to help explain to parents or other kids that he was different but other people are different in other ways and this is just part of who he is."

Jordan has played baseball since he was four years old and his love for baseball as well as his athleticism has opened doors for him. Jordan plays on the All Star baseball team with Chico Westside Little League, with the traveling team the Chico Aces, and with the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team Kids Camp in Lousiville, Kentucky earlier in June.

Susan Rodio, founder and director of Kids Camp, said the Wounded Warriors Amputee Softball Team, which formed in 2011, is a team of veteran and active duty soldiers who have lost limbs in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The team travels the country and competes against able-bodied softball teams. In observing the team interact with amputee children, Rodio said she thought it made perfect sense to start a Kids Camp for an opportunity for the players and children to bond through the game.

"It wasn't nearly as much about softball as it was about the bonding," Rodio said.

Jordan was selected through recommendation from the Shriners Hospital for Children in Sacramento. His mother said she has taken Jordan to Shriners since he was a baby for most of his amputation needs.

In the many years of treatment, Jordan's physician has become well informed of his love of baseball. When his mother was notified about the Wounded Warrior's interest in Jordan, she didn't hesitate to sign him up for the camp.

Jordan flew on a plane for the first time with his grandmother Bobbi Halterbeck across country for an opportunity Bobbi Halterbeck is sure he will never forget.

For one week, the children connect with one another through their shared stories. Each of the 20 children who participated in this year's camp were mentored by a warrior with a similar amputation.

"It sounds to me that it was inspiring to meet other people who were amputees, and I heard a lot about the kids who were arm amputees and how they learned to play ball," Halterbeck-Werner said.

Rodio shared that for many of the Kids Camp participants, they had never related with other amputees, as was Jordan's experience. "They've always been different, they're the only one and for them to see others, it gives them more of a determination and experience that helps them grow," Rodio said. Jordan's father Jonathan Werner said in his experience, the only time Jordan is able to interact with other amputees is in a waiting room at a hospital for a brief moment, but Kids Camp created an opportunity to build relationships with like people.

Jordan has played baseball for most of his life, which enabled him to show other kids how to do what he does on a regular basis. He said he felt like an inspiration but one warrior, in particular, inspired him.

William "Rick" Wilk, Jordan said was motivational because, just like him, he's a first baseman who also plays with a prosthetic leg. In addition to Wilk, Jordan said he was moved to get a sports prosthetic leg, which is different from his current prosthetic in that it has a J-spring to increase bounce and speed.

"I saw the other kids who were really fast, and they have those kinds of legs, so I want to get one and try to be faster," Jordan said.

Grandmother, Bobbi Halterbeck, said the decision to get an athletic leg is one with which Jordan has struggled but it was "huge" for him to feel empowered and come home and get a "better leg made for him for sports."

Rodio said, referring to Jordan's wants to get an athletic leg, that the children generally respond better to changes after seeing the players and their peers. She said there is an understanding that "these guys know what they are talking about," because they are exposed to individuals who also have amputations where their family or friends may not.

On the last day of the camp, the children had an opportunity to get a taste of the major leagues. The youth were divided into two teams, announced like the professionals with names blasted on the big screen and told to "play ball" on the Louisville Slugger Field.

Bobbie Halterbeck said seeing the joy on the faces of the kids was something she'll always hold dear. "I think it was a life-changing experience for him as well as myself ," she said.

Since Jordan has returned home, he has yet to stop inspiring others. Halterbeck-Werner said veteran Paul Riley heard about Jordan playing with the Wounded Warriors and was inspired by his strength to overcome stigma surrounding amputees and those wounded in war.

As a result, Halterbeck-Werner said Jordan will throw out the first pitch at his All Star baseball game July 7 and Riley "wants to honor him with an American flag that he carried in his pack through battle."

In a phone interview, she said when people acknowledge Jordan for playing with the Wounded Warriors he questions, "How do they know who I am?," and she replies with a chuckle in her voice, "because of your story."